Interesting article in the space review rspeck, although I'm not sure the accompanying picture makes me want to travel light.

One of the problems I think is that while technically I can accept what you say about it being possibly safer to travel to orbit in a spacesuit without a normal spacecraft around you I still feel the need for a separate barrier (no matter how flimsy and redundant it might be). Perception over logic I guess, a wall is a wall.

I wouldnâ€™t want to ride to orbit in an open seat for the same reason that I
donâ€™t like to ride motorcycles; no protection in an accident. Of course
others crave the excitement of motorcycle riding.

I read the article but am still sceptical. Has anyone gone higher then 20km in a partial pressure suit? Has there been any interest in such suits by sky divers? I know several sky divers would like to jump from a balloon from 40km to break the record.